Braves Report

This losing streak has got to end some time. 8 games in a row is just too much. I’m sure the Braves are wondering what the hell is happening just as much as we are, but rest assured, relief is coming soon (maybe). Let’s see what happened tonight.

I said I had faith in Kawakami. Well, apparently, he did not. He went 4.1 innings, gave up 5 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), walked 4, and struck out 4. Jonny Venters, a pitcher I didn’t even remember was on this team, came in and was pretty ineffective. He let all of Kawakami’s runs score. O’Flaherty and Chavez followed with an inning each, without much drama. Same story as always. One thing to note is that the Braves turned 4 double plays. I don’t know if this speaks more towards their good defense, or the fact that the Cardinals always had runners on.

The offense was its usual terrible self. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, this team can’t compete without somebody/something to spark the offense. Even though they had 7 hits, they failed to plate a single run, for their fifth shutout of the year. End this garbage already, please.

Braves go down, 6-0.

Thursday’s game, 1:40 PM EST on SportsSouth. J. Jurrjens (0 – 2, 5.48) vs. A. Wainwright (3 – 1, 1.69).

I’ll give my predictions: Braves lose 4-1. They’ll provide no run support for Jurrjens, but get a mercy homer in the 8th inning (I’m looking at you, Heyward).

Everything great has some sort of blemish. America, for example, has the black marks of the Civil War, Japanese internment camps, and Lady Gaga. Likewise, the 2010 Braves have a 7 game losing streak to worry about. Let’s see what went wrong tonight.

Lowe started this game and he was good to begin with, but ended weakly. His line was 5 and 2/3rds innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Moylan relieved Lowe in the 6th, and allowed one of his runs to score on a hit. Medlen and Wagner followed with an inning of their own without any drama. Wagner did drill Matt Holliday, though, so kudos to him. It was just a case of the same story as usual, where the starter failed, the bullpen was decent, but neither mattered because the offense just wasn’t enough.

The Braves managed to score 4 runs in this game, which came from a variety of players. Three came on singles from Melky Cabrera, Derek Lowe, and Chipper Jones. Martin Prado also drove in a run on a fielder’s choice/error. Other than that, the bats were relatively silent. The Braves had the bases loaded in the 7th inning with 2 outs and the Kid up at the plate, but he struck out looking. They need Heyward to start hitting again, or anybody, really, or this is going to be a long season.

Braves lose 7 in a row, 5-4.

Wednesday’s game @ 8:15 PM EST on Peachtree TV.

Kenshin Kawakami (0 – 3, 4.76) vs. Jamie Garcia (1 – 1, 1.42). I have faith in him.

6. The Braves have lost 6 games in a row as they just seem to be unable to buy a break. What’s worse is they had the lead in this one, but it just slipped away. Let’s go. It’s dark at the bottom of the league.

Hudson started this game and had a decent outing until the last two innings he pitched. He went 6+ innings, threw 94 pitches (53 strikes), allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. He received a no-decision for his effort. Moylan relieved him in the 7th inning and allowed Hudson’s third run to score. Saito pitched the 8th and allowed a ground-rule double that would be the game winning hit. For this, he got charged with the loss. The pitching staff has seen better nights, but oddly, the bullpen blew it this game, while the starter was solid.

Of course, another reason why the Braves lost was because they did not score enough runs. They tallied up 9 hits, and runs came in the form of a McCann sacrifice fly, a Troy Glaus single, and a Nate McLouth double. The Braves struck early, but after the 4th inning, they were done.

The offense could’ve been more productive.

Not the worst night they’ve ever had, but the pitching staff needed more run support.

Braves drop the opener, 4-3.

Next game, Tuesday @ 8:15 PM EST on Peachtree TV. Lowe (3 – 1, 5.24) vs. Carpenter (2 – 0, 3.60).

Win, dammit.

There’s two reasons why I’m combining the recaps for the Braves’ series against the Mets. One: I’m exhausted as I finish my final year of college. Two: the Braves were just terrible. Let’s go.

From a pitching standpoint, Kawakami, Jurrjens, and Hanson were actually pretty decent. I don’t know when Jurrjens is going to win his first game if the offense doesn’t provide him with any run support. Hanson was phenomenal, while only pitching 5 innings a rain-shortened game, he struck out 8 and gave up an unearned run. Kawakami and Jurrjens only gave up 3 runs in their respective starts. The bullpen wasn’t all that bad, either. They were worse than they have been, but still not terrible.

That word is reserved for the offense. I don’t know what happened this weekend, but they just looked out of it. This included a stupid base-running blunder by Escobar that cost the Braves a run on Saturday. They could only provide the Braves with 3 runs in the 24 innings that they batted, which was just not enough to win anything.

The three losses dropped the Braves from first place to last in the division (8-10) and gave them a record below .500, all the while being swept by the Mets.

Let’s not do that again.

Braves drop game 16, 5-2.

Braves lose game 17, 3-1.

Braves get beat in game 18, 1-0.

Thursday night marked the conclusion of the Braves’ series against the Phillies, and it also marked their second series loss of the season. Let’s go.

Lowe started this game and was less than spectacular. In 5 innings of work, he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), walked 2, and struck out 3. Not his best performance of the season. Medlen relieved him for a third of an inning, giving up a run. O’Flaherty followed, finishing the inning without letting any more damage occur. Moylan pitched the next inning, giving up 2 runs. Finally, Chavez pitched the last 2 innings, only giving up a hit. Not a great performance from the pitching staff.

Still, it did not really matter, because the offense only provided 3 runs on 9 hits. These runs all came in the form of outs from Diaz, Prado, and McCann. Not their best performances of the year as the Braves’ offense was held in check by Jamie Moyer.

Braves lose, 8-3.